The Lesson of Love
by theSecretWriter
Summary: Love teaches us things about ourselves we never knew. Set at the end of Nine Lives, my alternate ending. Nigel finds himself in an awkward situation. NigelLagerfeld to start but eventual NigelSydney pairing. Mild language and references to homosexuality
1. Chapter 1

Candles flickered in their wall sconces, casting shadows on the faces of their captors. Tied back to back with Sydney against a large metal stake Nigel shivered, despite the large fire.

"Lets just call it...a ritual disembowelling"

The words sounded chilling in the dark room, even though the speaker was almost comical in sight. Ridiculous though the situation was a lump of fear forced it's way into Sydney's throat, leaving her speechless. It was her lack of foresight that had brought them into this mess, and for once she had no idea how to undo it.

It had seemed so...exciting, perhaps, a hunt for treasure (again), preventing a so-called curse from fulfilling itself; she knew that's what it was. Just a self-fulfilling prophecy – she believed in no other. It was set to be just like old times, only on this occasion she found herself lead easily between locations and victims. Too easily. Far too easily. She should have known.

"I preferred 'sacrifice' actually" he hated how goofy his voice sounded at that moment. He was going to die, they didn't have the statue. They were going to die and he sounded so stupid, so pathetic.

"I'll find it" he almost believed her, almost. True she was always right, and she did always succeed, but what if this was one time too many? What if they had used up all their nine lives? Nigel forced his mind onto positive thinking: Sydney always got him out of trouble, saved him from danger. Why should this time be any different?

He remained quiet Sydney was released, weighing the odds of salvation against the guidelines set against her. _She could leave now,_ his brain whispered, _she doesn't need to come back. Why shouldn't she leave you here to be burnt alive, or cut open..._ It wouldn't happen. All the years together couldn't be for nothing, couldn't end like this. She shot him a fierce look of reassurance and... determination?... friendship?... goodbye? Nigel couldn't tell. Knowing that he would crumble if he tried to speak he merely gestured with his head. I know you have to go. Sydney's face is set in determination, purely for their captor's effect, but her eyes say something different. _Forgive me for leaving you here, forgive me if I can't..._

Yet even as his boss left he felt the sinking feeling of despair. That was what the difference was – Sydney had always been by his side to protect him. Every time he'd met with death they had faced it together. Now she was gone her absence removed from him all traces of reserve and control he still possessed. He was going to die, have all his organs removed – whilst still alive, his brain hastened to add. Charming. He would never read a book again, never goad Claudia again, never see Sydney again.

All else paled before that. _"Let him go"_ she had said. Always in the midst of trouble had she tried to cover his back, not caring so much for her own safety. "Let him go" might have been interpreted as "keep me instead" he would miss her when he died, miss the way she talked, miss how he could never tell her the things he really wanted to tell her. He'd never even kissed her.

Nigel groaned and shut his eyes. What with Langenfeld being a general idiot, and the sense of foreboding hanging over him it was going to be a long night....

* * *

_AN: This is an idea I've been toying with for a quite a few months now. It works in my head, and I've got a rough outline written up, so I basically need some confirmation to go on? As ever, reviews are always nice :)_

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

In the end they'd gone to the nice little place that Lagerfeld said he knew. It was a strange sort of café bar that they were led to, on the floor above a Greek Cypriot restaurant, its custom now dwindling for the night. It was a darling little place, apparently, and of course being relatively unknown gave it the right sort of clientele. Why go anywhere that doesn't have some level of exclusivity?

_That village in the jungle with the ever-so-large-breasted barmaid and that awful drink – had it been eels that they put in? – that had been forced upon them… Yes, he was well used to exclusivity._

Nigel knew well by now the conflicting abundance of emotions and adrenaline that presented itself after situations like that, situations that arose after every hunt. It was best to talk through what had happened, preferably aided by something alcoholic, just to get it out of the system.

Of course this time it was different having a third member along. Sydney would walk off every so often to make calls to whichever of her contacts it happened to be that that particular hunt's gain was going to, just as she did every time. Normally it gave Nigel space to himself in silence, to reassure himself of the normality of a life where nobody was trying to kill him. Sitting in a booth with another man trying to stroke his thigh didn't particularly help in that respect.

"So, I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting you before. Syd's been hiding you, I expect"  
"I've not been working with her long"  
"How are you liking America? I imagine it's taking a bit of getting used to?"  
"It's different" Sydney paced past their table, evidently still listening to the dialtone of whoever she was trying to reach "I can't imagine that it's office hours for anyone in this country" Nigel remarked "I shouldn't think people are going to be too happy being woken up"  
"Well it gives us more time to get to know each other, don't you think?"

"Ah how sweet!" Claudia teased him when he recounted that part of the conversation  
"It's not funny!" he insisted  
"It really is"  
"Don't tell me you've never had some creep hit on you before?" the girl considered this for a moment whilst she applied the top coat to he nails and then shrugged  
"I guess they know I'm out of their league" Nigel sighed. Sometimes Claudia was lovely – a breath of freash air and youth in the stuffy office. Ther times however, their playful teasing of each other would spiral into a spiteful fallout for an hour or so until Sydney came along to distract them. For once his employer was taking a class so he tried to change the subject  
"I can't believe I missed that commet"  
"Oh did I tell you that I went to that place in the end?"  
"Really?"  
"Well you got so worked up about it so I went to see what all the fuss was about"  
"And?"  
"There was this really nice astrology guy that worked there who showed me round"  
"You mean astronomy – astronomer. What was it like?"  
"Well" Claudia paused "he was lovely"

Nigel groaned.

"So do you do this kind of thing often?" the art dealer asked  
"Increasingly so it seems. To be honest it's the most tenuous job requirement of a teaching assistant that I've come across, but there you go. It's different"  
"It's not really you though, is it?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"No offense intended of course" the other man drowned the remaining mouthful of wine from his glass and raised it in the air to catch the eye of the man working there "I think perhaps a bottle this time?"

He didn't elaborate and Nigel didn't ask.

"That reminds me" Claudia was saying "Your date called to cancel"  
"What?" that broke him out of his thoughts "Why?" Claudia wrinkled her nose  
"Can you blame her?"

Nigel's relationship with women was a tricky one sometimes. He loved them all if they were pretty, and some found his awkwardness endearing. Though often single it wasn't an arduous search for a replacement, and indeed many of the girls he taught (and sometimes ones who he didn'yt) wouuld've agreed had he not thought it would be inappropriate and wrong to ask. Yet for all this he wouldn't call himself popular with the ladies. This ones he had really wanted, the ones that he could consider spending a large proportion of his life with, always alluded him. Each girl was always lovely of course, but their relationship ultimately ended, and some like this ended before they had even begun.

"Don't worry thought. Someone else called asking if you were free and I said you were"  
"You got me another date?"  
"Nige" said a voice behind him, and his heart both sank and simultaneously became lodged in his throat. She hadn't, had she?

"So you'll be leaving today then?"  
"Most probably" Nigel stifled a yawn "We'll need to be back as soon as possible really. Syd gets a lot of leeway in her job but we try not to push it too far"  
"So…how can I contact you then?"  
"Um, through Sydney's office?" it had reached that point where all he wanted to do was sleep "I'm there most of the day I suppose"

"Very funny Claudia" his head was in his hands when she closed the door to Sydney's part of the office behind her  
"Are you scared Nigel?" she teased him  
"No, I'm just straight!" he snapped back "How could you think it would be funny Claudia?"  
"Because your face would be exactly like it is now"  
"What would it take to get you to get rid of him?"

Lagerfeld was sat on the edge of Claudia's desk when he crept out into the room  
"Nigel-" he began, but Nigel interrupted him  
"So where are we going then?"

It was one of those moments where he wished he could have taken a picture of Claudia's face.  
If he had woken up at that moment and found that it was all a dream then he wouldn't've been surprised.  
Thing was, he didn't.

* * *

_So in clearing out my inbox I found an email sent to myself from an email address that I didn't realise that I had. This account turned out to be linked to it. I do remember writing on this site a long time ago, but not under this username. Anyway, I saw that this story was unfinished and that I had some messages about it so I'm endeavouring to finish it. I can't remember what I had in mind when I started it (and in all honesty I probably need to watch the episode again) but hopefully it will all come back to me…_


End file.
